5%

Lorimer and Meserole, Brooklyn, NY. 2008
So I knew these guys existed, just not three blocks away from the house.

The group was founded by Clarence 13X (né Clarence Jowars Smith), who was credited with originating the teachings that formed the foundations of the Five-Percenter movement.Clarence 13X was a Korean War veteran who served as a Private First Class between October 1952 and October 1954, receiving a Bronze Service Star, Korean Service Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and a United Nations Service Medal, and served until 1960 in the United States Army Reserve.

Clarence 13X was also a member of the Nation of Islam and attended NOI Temple Number Seven in Harlem, New York, where Malcolm X was a minister from 1960 to 1963. Multiple stories exist as to why Clarence 13X left Nation of Islam, some have Clarence refusing to give up gambling; others have him questioning the unique divinity of Wallace Fard Muhammad, whom the NOI believed was the True and Living God, or questioning his position due to the fact that Fard was part Caucasian. The story, regardless of version, states that Clarence was then disciplined by the NOI and excommunicated in 1963. This expulsion by the NOI led Clarence 13X to shed his Black Muslim name, and adopt the name Allah, proclaiming himself to be God (an echo of the 1930's black preacher Father Divine). He then began to teach others his views based on his own interpretation of NOI teachings. He found success beginning in late 1964 with the disenfranchised youth on the streets of Harlem.

The members of the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE) view themselves (men of their Nation) as their own God (both individually and collectively the Original Man). Five Percenters sometimes refer to themselves as scientists, implying their search for knowledge and proof, and not beliefs in theories.

Shoplifting in Bushwick

Vims-Broadway, Brooklyn, NY
These shots never get old. Not only to shoplifters have to go through the humiliation of getting caught stealing like a bag of soxs from VIMS, but they also have to get their picture taken with the item they tried stealing. Everyone in the pictures seem to be smiling though. Interesting.

Grown in the Bronx

Mt. Hope, Bronx
Summer 2006
One summer slowly driving through Mt. Hope we passed an empty plot of land between worn out residential buildings. As we drove by, something caught my eye, and I told my buddy to stop. Jump out and snapped this picture. It was growing amoung other weeds, and I'm pretty sure it was wild. Took the pic and jumped back in the car.

Slim Pickings

I apologize for the lack of postings, but as I am trying to keep this dope and legit, I will always post when I think there is something worth posting. Unlike other "blogs" I won't post flics of my drunk friends, or me on a roller coaster over the summer. Bear with me. The two flics below aren't anything to write home about, but its something. Stay tuned.....

March 23rd, 8th and 32nd, NY, NY
This is what Madison Square Garden looks like under a bomb threat. Again, heading to work, I stumble upon this scene. Talked to a cop and he mentioned "suspicious" package. Way to make me get off my bike and walk AROUND the scene.



Johnson and White, Brooklyn, NY
This was a bit scarier. I rolled up on this on Johnson and White, which is a scary intersection. Its all factories and warehouses and people fly down this barren street. Not this dude. He smacked the Mercedes right onto this post. When I got to it, all the doors were open, there was no one around, and a lone cruiser parked in front of it. Weird.

Cure for the Plague

China-2006
I picked this tube of toothpaste in China, and it wasn't until I got back to the hotel that I realized what it said.

New Oldie

Monday-125th Street, Harlem NY

Beat Down

Hope and Roebling, Brooklyn

Stepping out to grab a smoke, I noticed this scene outside the bar. This guy was bleeding from him head after apparently geting beat down by two guys. The cops came, and asked for witnesses. No one was around to describe the attackers and the guy couldn't do it either. I would have stayed until the ambulance came, but by then I was done with my smoke, and was bored.

STAY ALERT!

Grand and Union-Brooklyn, NY 2006

I stuumbled into this very unfortunate event riding back from the city one night. I was on Grand in BK heading towards Bushwick. I probably arrived a few minutes after the accident. I couldnt tell whose fault it was, do I'd probably go for the car driver. There was blood coming from his head and his bicycle was right under the tire of the car. Crazy shit. Bicyclists-Be Alert!

Hip Hop Lives on Fashion Avenue!

The morning I got emergency root canal I bumped into these guys in midtown. My mouth was all numb and I was on the way to get pain killers, and there they were. All with flat tops and jean jackets. If you look closer you can see the silver boombox one is carrying. Another has a bleached flat top. Gansta!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhh, New York

On my walk home from work, I see this guy on 35th and 8th, just sitting there in the middle of rush hour foot trafic. The guy is decently dressed, doesn't look intoxicated, and in on his cell phone. Only problem is, his is vomiting all over himself. If you look closely, you can see green guck on his pants. One passer by asked him, "Are you drunk?"
What the fuck difference would that have made?

And then to good ol'Chinatown. What used to be a wild little scene, like everything else in NY, is becoming pussy whipped. There are a bunch of shops there with their grates shut, and these signs on all of them. All shut down for "trademarket counterfeiting." The fuck else I am I gonna go there for now?

Shooting in Lower East Side-2006

Riding on Ludlow one night two years ago, I heard gunshots coming from in front of me. As I come to an intersection, I see a crowd of Puerto Rican kids in front of some projects, around what appeared to be a body. I had just stumbled upon a shooting victim, two minutes after the shooting. I just hung back and watched as DT's arrived and began to question witnesses. The first thing I heard from a screaming witness was, "They were black, and from Brooklyn!" Chaos, needless to say. Eventually the EMT's arrived and threw the body on the stretcher, which was still alive as I heard one of the EMT's say, "stay with us, stay with us." Damn.

New York Shitty

36th and Eighth Ave, New York, NY 2006

This is what you get when you mix two of the dirtiest living things in NY, pigeons and 'heads. I took this on 36th and 8th Ave, one of the last remnants of what good ol Times Square was like. Shady cats coming in and out of the methadone clinincs. Pigeons and junkie vomit. Damn, life is funny sometimes.

My Boombox Collection

I owns these!!






Dope.
Nuff said.

Death in San Francisco-Summer 2006

These are pictures of the San Francisco coroners collecting the dead body of a homeless man. This gentleman had sat on a stoop a block away from my place and I would always pass him. He just sat there and never asked for money. He just sat staring off. Then after months of getting used to him always being there, on my walk home I noticed this van and took a close look. This gentleman was slumped on the floor in the middle of the alley. I saw them throw the white cloth over him, load him on a stretcher and haul him off. What a shame. And where do dead homeless men end up once the city picks them up?
RIP

Unlucky Bastard

I took this on the corner of Montrose and Broadway. A hatchling must have fallen off a nest, and before hitting the floor, got snagged on the barb and razer wire. No good way to die. And seeing how it probably hatched in spring, it been hanging for months.